A Castle Christmas
by Emily Hoyt
Summary: Alexis invited a friend to help decorate the tree and Castle Christmas traditions are shared. What more could you ask for? Merry Christmas, all!


**AN: Alrighty! SO, here's my Christmas contribution and PLEASE TAKE NOTE! Gina and Josh do not exist in my little Caskett World! Thank you so much!**

"Pass me that bundle of lights, sweetheart," Rick mumbled through a mouthful of puffed kernels. Alexis spun on him, peanut bulbs in hand.

"Dad, that's for the garland!" she protested with a frown. "If you want popcorn to eat, there's microwave popcorn packets in the cupboard."

Leaving his daughter to check for burned lights, he dashed into the kitchen, tore the cellophane off the envelop he pulled out of the pantry and tossed it into the microwave. Just as the door slammed shut, the front bell rang. Rick lifted his head in his daughter's direction. She grinned.

"I kinda invited someone to decorate with us," she rushed out, looking down at the cranberry she was currently fighting onto the thread.

"Oh, boy," he sighed, making his way over to the door. "Let me guess; hello, Ashl…" He swung the door open and was prepared to see a head of sandy blond hair sitting on a teenage boy's face, but the name died on his tongue as he recognized the auburn curls on the lean female frame. "Beckett?" he squeaked with a confused stare. She fidgeted under his gaze.

"Hey, Castle," she said in a low voice, smiling as the young red-head bounded up behind her father.

"Hey, Kate," Alexis said, tapping her father out of the way to allow the detective to enter and set down her large material grocery bag. Kate shivered when she stepped into the warmth and then, again, when she slid off her outerwear and handed it to the young girl to hang up in the hallway closet. As Alexis led Kate towards the fire, the both stilled a few steps away to look back at Rick. His hand still gripping the handle, he hadn't moved except to swing his gaze, following the two women's path.

"Castle?"

"Dad?"

The sound of their joined voices seemed to bring him back and he shook his head clear. Closing the door with a swing, he spun towards the ladies and walked to meet them, insinuating himself between them and putting his arms over their shoulders.

"So… Detective Beckett! What brings you to our door this Christmas Eve?"

"Well, you… I thought…" She craned her head around the author to look at his daughter, who lowered her head in shame. Kate frowned. "Alexis, you said you cleared it with him!" she whispered in accusation.

"He doesn't mind," she said as brightly as she could, looking up at her father for his backing in the decision. He smiled at Alexis and turned back to Kate.

"I don't mind," he parroted, then frowned and looked back at his daughter. "What don't I mind?"

"That Kate has come to decorate the tree with us since she didn't have anything to do this Christmas Eve."

"Oh, no, she's entirely right," he replied, returning to the detective, "don't mind at all!" he reassured, grinning as Alexis have him a thump in the shoulder with her fist. Even Kate gave a little laugh. "On one condition!"

"Uh, oh!" Kate muttered as Alexis bounded back to her popcorn and cranberries task.

"Can I call you 'Kate', too?" Kate released a breath and let a smile slowly creep across her face.

"Alright… Rick." She frowned. "That sounds weird to be saying."

"Well," he hummed, moving to the box of ornaments with her, "I hope you get used to it soon 'cause I really liked hearing it."

Kate bit back as much of her smile as possible, but it broke through anyway.

"Right," she mumbled. "Anyways, here," she said, pulling a carton out of her sack, although her grip on the bag suggested it still contained other items. Rick took the cardboard box and grinned.

"I knew we had forgotten something!" he groaned, holding up the container of eggnog as his daughter turned back to face him. "Thank you! Our little elf!" he grinned, taking her by the shoulders and pressing a kiss to her cheek before running into the kitchen to serve the drink, leaving Kate a little stunned.

"Kate?" Alexis called in a low voice so as not to startle her, but the detective jumped anyways. "Are you alright?" Kate shook her head and smiled.

"Your dad just has way too much energy for me!"

"But… is that necessarily a bad thing?" Alexis questioned. Kate thought for a moment before putting a finger up to her lips and shook her head.

"I saw that!" Rick called from behind her and she let her head drop, smiling to herself as Alexis began laughing. "Here you go, milady," he said, handing her a glass of the sweet drink with ice cubes clinking in it. "Mi-other-lady," he said, stretching out to pass a second tumbler to his daughter who thanked him and swirled it a moment. "And mi-self!" he chuckled.

"A toast!" he bellowed, lifting his glass, watching as both women followed suit. "To family," he said, clinking glasses with Alexis. "To extraordinary friends," he gushed, tapping his against the blushing detective's. "And… to mother staying out all night and not putting nearly a bottle of rum in our eggnog this year!" Alexis and Kate laughed a moment before they all took a sip and moaned their approval. Then, Kate turned back to Rick.

"A bottle?" she burst. "I'm surprised you didn't wind up in ICU in an alcoholic coma! That's quite a bit of rum in one sitting."

"ICU? With the hangover I head, I _wanted_ to be in the morgue!" Kate laughed, but Alexis groaned.

"It's really not that funny, Kate," she said. "Grams used about half a bottle of rum on him, she drank martinis all night and, after a couple, started forgetting she was serving eggnog to me, too!"

"Are you serious?" Kate gasped.

"Deadly…" Rick replied, pulling back Kate's attention. "Mother was hung over, I was hung over and Alexis was a little queasy for the first few hours that morning. Not a pretty picture at the Castle Chateau!"

"Wow, I would have loved to see that," Kate smiled, looking up at Rick with a grin, their eyes catching. She held his gaze several moments before the heat building inside became uncomfortable and she moved towards his daughter for garland instructions.

Alexis checked the peanut bulbs, Rick strung the lights and Kate continued threading in three-popcorn-pieces-and-one-cranberry intervals for nearly an hour and a half on the eight-foot-tall tree until it was aglow with light and white puff strings dotted with crimson. Alexis fished through the box for a minute before resurfacing with a porcelain pacifier. She moved to the tree and hooked it on the tall branch at eye-level in the very middle.

"It's the ornament I bought for her first Christmas," Rick said with a smile as Kate stepped forward to take a closer look.

"Here, dad," Alexis interjected, handing Rick a green bulb overly sparkled with silver glitter and emblazoned with large white painted letters spelling out D-A-D. Rick smiled and touched it gently. "This is the first Christmas project I did in kindergarten. He refuses to part with it." Kate turned from the tree and stood by the red-head.

"With reason, Alexis. These are memories. My dad and I… we put up our tree at his place about two weeks before Christmas and it's all handmade ornaments. My mom used to buy a box of… solid spheres. No designs, no sparkles, nothing special, and we would decorate them. Each year, a new box to do. We haven't made any new ones since… but we use every single one we do have."

"That's a beautiful story, Kate," Rick said softly as he returned from hanging his ornament a branch to the left of Alexis' pacifier. She shuffled her feet and crossed her arms as a warm glow spread through her. She could get used to him calling her 'Kate', too.

"I'll be right back!" Alexis called out from half way up the stairs, leaving Rick to shrug when Kate gave him a glance. Less than five seconds later, his daughter came bounding down the stairs once again with a small package in her hands. She made her way to the woman and handed over the wad of tissue paper. "This one is for you," she said, moving back to her father's arm as Kate unwrapped the tiny figure. She held it up.

"Alexis, this is beautiful!" Kate gushed as she stared at the green crystal leaf with two small beads of burgundy crystal near the stem. "It's holly!" she said softly, touching her finger gently to the tip to hold it up against the light of the tree.

"I thought of you when I saw it. Your eyes are this green/brown mix without really being hazel and your red hair… We carrot-tops have to stick together!" Alexis said proudly as Kate pressed a hand to her chest.

"This is beautiful," she gasped, smiling and turning to Alexis and Rick. "Where can I hang it?" she asked. Alexis shrugged.

"If you want to bring it home instead of leaving it here, that's alright, too. Or… it could be your reason for… maybe coming by more often?" Alexis asked, her voice soft and a little embarrassed. "Don't get me wrong; I love my Grams and of course, I love you, too, dad," she reassured, casting him a smiling glance. "But… it was nice when you were staying here. You know, to have a woman to talk to, that was closer to my age and that I could relate to a little more than a older Broadway actress or a… male… slightly eccentric author."

"Hey!" he grumbled with a grin before pulling Alexis in tighter to his side. "Don't worry; no offense taken, pumpkin."

"Actually, I meant a little offense. 'Slightly eccentric' was code for 'a little immature'!"

"Why, you!" he growled. Then, tossing her onto the nearby couch, he leaned over and began tickling her, making her squeal and laugh and flail helplessly.

"Kate, help!"

"Sorry, Alexis, but I won't bring a gun to tickle fight," Kate chirped in as Rick released his daughter and she sat up gasping for air. "And, in response to the original question, I think leaving it here would be a wonderful excuse to come visit more often," she told the young girl, her eyes sparkling. "When can I…" she asked, but Rick looked at her as if she was clueless.

"Where do you think? It goes next to ours!" he told her, reaching out and taking her wrist in his hand to guide her towards the branch just right of Alexis'.

"Really?" she asked, biting her lower lip.

"Kate, Alexis invited you to decorate and bought you an ornament and Mother practically wants to adopt you! You're part of the family. Now, hang the ornament next to ours."

Her lips stretched wide, eyes sparkling with suppressed tears. "_Thank you,"_ she whispered and tore her gaze from Rick's to loop the thread onto the branch, pushing it back to make sure it was secure. "Thank you, Alexis. It's stunning."

"You're welcome."

"Uh, oh…" Rick mumbled, returning his gaze back to the detective's from wherever he'd just been staring. She frowned. "Did you have plans for Christmas Day?" he asked her.

"Um… I usually go see my dad or he comes to my place. However, since he has–"

"You might want to cancel them!" he cut in, taking her by the shoulders and turning her towards a window that was solid white.

"Don't you clear off your windows, Rick?" she teased, but one look at his face told her all she needed to know. "It was clear before, wasn't it?" He nodded his head and ducked to the couch to grab the television remote off the table to turn it on to the local news channel.

"…_been talking about it all day. This wild snowstorm has blown down from Canada. It was moving through Quebec into New Brunswick when a sudden change in wind __pushed it south a few hours ago. Now, as you can see by the whiteout outside, it has finally hit New York, ladies and gentlemen. We are expecting anywhere from ten to forty inches of snow overnight! A warning is in effect at this moment, advising the citizens of the city to remain indoors unless absolutely necessary! Meteorologists are also suggesting to gather __supplies as they foresee a high risk of power outages during the heaviest of the storm. At this moment, our weather department is estimating that between five and twelve inches of snow have already fallen and it is getting worse by the second. Stay tuned for more details!__"_

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Kate!" Alexis apologized. "If you hadn't come here, you might have seen the warning in time to get to your father's before the worst of it!"

"Yeah, I'm sorry, too, Kate. I would take you myself, but…"

"No, no, no! I wouldn't expect you to risk your neck to get me to my dad's. Besides, if he knew I was traveling in this, he might have had a heart attack just worrying about it!" she said with a smile. "I've got to say, though. This sure beats being trapped inside at my place all alone. If I can't be with my dad, I'm glad I'm here," she unloaded and Alexis launched herself at Kate, knocking the wind out of the detective with her bear hug.

"We're glad you're here with us, too," Alexis mumbled into Kate's shoulder. When the girl released her, Kate was just about to place herself when a second pair of arms wrapped around her, leaving her breathless yet again, but for an entirely different reason.

His cologne wafted around her, invading her nostrils and her senses as she curled her own arms around Rick. She sighed against his shoulder and tried to reprimand herself for enjoying his embrace, but she couldn't help it; she felt so… _right_ wrapped in his arms. Fighting back a mewl of disappointment when he released her, she chose to plaster on a smile and tried to look as perky as possible, but tiredness was setting in on top of the loss of warmth and feeling of security.

"How about we get the rest of these decorations on the tree and watch a movie?" Rick asked, but the words had barely escaped his mouth when Alexis let out a yawn of fatigue. Her eyes drooped.

"You know I love decorating, dad, but I think I'm going to have to call it a night pretty soon."

Alexis kept up the ornament hanging for another half hour before the frequency of yawns neared one a minute. After nearly stumbling into the tree twice, Rick smiled and gave his daughter a wide hug.

"Get to bed pumpkin, 'cause you know I'm dragging you out of it first thing to come unwrap your presents!"

"I know, dad. You always do!" she laughed before stepping out of her father's hug to give Kate a hug goodnight. "Goodnight, Kate. I guess I'll be seeing you in the morning," she beamed before releasing the detective and trudging up the stairs, practically pulling herself up the railing.

"Well, I guess that leaves us to finish the tree," he hummed, smiling as she shrugged. "There isn't much left. Then, we'll get you set up for the night."

"Um… alright."

The rest of the decorations took nearly an hour to put on the tree, being careful not to hang two of the same color or type too closely to each other. Then, they draped their strung pop-berry garland around the outer branches. As Kate took the last string, Rick disappeared into his office for a moment, leaving Kate to finish up the last little bit of decorating. Crouched down by the tree, she could not stop herself from thinking about the whole situation, her eyes drawn back up to the crystal piece of holly near the pacifier and green bulb.

Would she be in the picture next year? What would they do with her ornament if they stopped talking or seeing each other? What if contact was lost during the three other seasons and the ornaments were packed away and they forgot to give it to her? Would the keep it somewhere safe for her? Would they seek her out and return it to her? Would they hang it on the tree? Or would they get rid of it altogether? If they parted on bad terms, that was entirely possible. All she had to do was look back over the last two years.

Then again, what if she was still in the picture next year? Would she be able to visit for Christmas? She could be involved with someone else by then and be expected to spend the holiday with them. He could be… She tried hard to swallow around the uncomfortable lump in her throat, but it hurt to gulp past it. _'He could be with… anyone!'_ she thought to herself, forcing away tears from the corners of her eyes. With a grunt, she pushed the thoughts aside and concentrated on enjoying this Christmas.

'_But, what about next Christmas?'_ Her mind teased her relentlessly for several more seconds before the droplets escaped the corners and sliced down her cheeks. Swiping them away, she sighed and knew what she had to do. At the end of the season, when she knew they were taking down the decorations, she would ask to have her holly back to keep.

"Life has a way of surprising us, doesn't it?" Rick asked, making her jump as he returned from his office. She let out a little chuckle and turned to see him dragging a massive red bag behind him stuffed to the point of popping.

"Jeez, how many gifts are in there?" she wondered aloud, watching him smile.

"Mother likes expensive things in little boxes. Actually, I got her a piece of Swarovski, too." Kate's brows knit in confusion as Rick began unloading the beautifully wrapped boxes and placing them beneath the tree.

"What do you mean, 'too'?" she asked, crouching down beside him and help him place the parcels. He swung his gaze back to her.

"Your holly decoration? That's crystal," he said as if she should know this already. "You didn't notice the swan on the tissue paper?" he asked, taking said sheet and handing it to her. She stared at the blue paper, running her finger over the silver swan silhouette for a moment before the realization literally knocked her over. She tumbled backwards and landed on her side on the floor.

"Jesus, Kate, are you alright?" he gasped, moving to her side and steadying her for a couple of seconds with his hands holding her shoulders. She nodded her head a couple of times before looking up at him and licking her lip.

"You'll let me know when you're taking everything down?" she asked and watched his eyes narrow in response. "So I can come get my ornament," she clarified. His expression drooped instantly.

"Well, it's safe with our stuff, too, Kate."

"I'm not implying it's not. I'd just like to have it for next year."

"Well, it wasn't a one year only thing. You'll still be allowed to hang it here if you want next year."

"Well, that's fine and dandy, but suppose I'm not around this time next year?"

"You plan on disappearing or kicking me out?"

"Castle, look at our track record! We've stepped out of each other's lives several times already!"

Rick sat in stillness for a minute, his face falling and his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed hard. He cleared his throat and swung his gaze away from Kate as he pushed himself up and walked into the kitchen. She called after him softly so as not to wake Alexis, but he didn't answer. She got to her feet and took a step to move around the furniture towards the island he was standing behind and, as her foot landed, the whole apartment was plunged into darkness.

"Castle!" she called out, keeping her voice low. "Castle!" she called again and watched as a little white light appeared in the palm of his hand. He moved about his kitchen, opening drawers in the island. "I know, I know," she muttered, making her way to his side in the dim light. "There's an app for that."

"Here," he said, his voice gruff. She watched a candle in a glass jar slide across the counter top and stop just inches short of the edge. Next came a set of matches. "Light that up," he said, striking a match of his own to light two other candles. Handing her one, he took the other and made his way towards the staircase. "You sit on the couch. I'll be back with a t-shirt and sweats for you. And don't worry, detective," he said, making her freeze in her tracks halfway to the living room. "You'll have your ornament first thing on the first day back to the precinct." With that he disappeared up the stairs.

'_Detective'_. She sighed and sat down with a plop. So, they were back to normal. Back to detective. She snorted and stared at the flame of the candle. Inside, her mind was laughing so loud, she couldn't even hear herself think except for the taunting _'Told you so!'_ her brain kept chanting. Tears stung at her eyes again and she didn't bother trying to force them away this time. She let them seep out and down her cheeks as she felt her heart break. There was no way they could ever last a whole year without a fight or separation. 

"Here," came his voice from behind her, a set of sweat pants and a gray t-shirt dropping onto the couch next to her. Her bottom lip shook and she tried to steady her voice, but the second her 'thank you' slipped out, she knew Rick knew she'd been crying. He leaned forward and tried to turn her face to his, but she shook him away. "Kate, what's wrong?" he asked, but she swiped the clothes, grabbed a candle and dashed towards the bathroom, the door clicking as she heard his shoes just outside. They continued further away and, just as she relaxed to let the sobs take over, another door creaked open not five meters away. "Kate…"

"Get out, please," she asked softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"What did I do? Tell me and I'll take it back!" he swore, coming closer, setting his candle on the floor beside him and crouching down in front of her. She shook her head, but he refused to leave her. Picking up the candles and handing them to her, he took her shoulders in his hands and guided her out the door he'd entered which led to his office. She groaned.

"Should have known it was connected…" she grumbled and he chuckled as he set her in a chair, placing the candles on his desk.

"You don't visit often… how could you have known?" She remained silent. "Look, what did I do wrong? You ask if you can have your decoration back, you start calling me by my last name again. Now, you're giving me the silent treatment!" he cried in exasperation. "I say you can have it, I revert to calling you 'detective' and you're still not happy!"

"Happy?" she snapped. "You think I _want_ to remove the 'excuse to visit more often'? You think I _prefer _calling you 'Castle' instead of 'Rick'? I just want to be able to not fight all the time! That's what would make me happy!"

"We're not fighting, Kate. This is just back and forth. Repertoire. That's all."

"What do call our…_back and forth_… just before about the ornament?"

"Well, when you start preparing to not be part of my life anymore, I take offense, Kate!" he cried out, getting up from his position on the edge of the desk in front of her. She fell silent and watched him run his hand through his hair. "Lord knows I have no intention of being out of the picture come next Christmas! I want to still be working with you at the precinct! I want to still be stopping in for late night Chinese or Remy's after a super-tough, work-late-into-the-night case! I still want you coming over every now and then, whether to see me for work or to see Alexis! I don't care! As long as you're around, I don't care what the reason is!"

His voice had slowly grown louder and louder and she had stepped to the door to pull it closed so as not to wake Alexis. When he looked to the chair and didn't see her there, he scanned the room in a wild panic until he set eyes on her by the door, closing it with her still on the inside.

"I thought you might have tried to leave in this… winter wonderland!" he said, trying to make light of it, but failed miserably as he collapsed against the desk and let his head hang down. "I don't know what the future holds, Kate. I don't know if we'll still be working together or friends or maybe, even…" he trailed off, shaking his head with a sad smile on his face. "Well… let's face it; with our track record, you might have killed me by then." At this, he heard her chuckle. "You've been threatening to long enough. Three hundred and sixty-five days is a _lot_ of cases. Wouldn't surprise me if I get myself shot before next Christmas…"

"Don't even think like that, Rick!" she squeaked out instantly. His eyes snapped up to see hers squeezed tight, tears streaming down the corners. He twitched and they opened, pure fury burning in their depths. "If you get yourself shot during a case, I'll kill you myself! Don't you dare!" she demanded, her fists shaking at her sides.

"Wasn't planning on _letting_ it happen, Kate!" he said with a laugh. "Not exactly on my things-to-do list for the new year! Got lots of resolutions, but… that ain't one of them!" he groaned and she finally cracked up a little, chuckles sneaking through her tears. They both fell silent yet again and he made his way to the window to look out at the falling snow. The bottom foot and a half of the pane of glass was white, but above it, he saw out into the completely deserted streets of the city and sighed. Behind him, a floorboard creaked as Kate moved and, after a few more steps, he could feel her nearness although she was still a few feet away, looking through the window from a few steps back.

"What else could we be?" she whispered and he spun around to look at her. Her arms were curled around her body and she was hugging herself tightly, visible shivers traveling through her body.

"Are you cold? C'mon, let's go back out to the fire."

"Not until you answer me," she said, holding her ground as he neared her and tried to guide her back out to the living room. "You almost said something else before. You said that a year from now, we might 'still be working together or friends or maybe, even…' and you trailed off. 'Maybe, even' what, Rick?" she asked again and noticed he was avoiding her gaze.

"Nothing, Kate. It was nothing. Just a slip of the tongue."

"You mean, the kind where you almost say something in a moment of passion… and it's something you _want_ to say, but you catch yourself a moment too late. That kind of slip of the tongue?" He snorted to himself.

"Yeah, sure…"

"Then, you _did_ have something else to call us. What?" He shook his head and his mouth opened and closed a couple of times, but no words found their way out of his mouth. As his head bounced, his eyes eventually caught hers and he was unable to peel his gaze away from hers to save his soul, which was exactly why he should have looked away immediately: to save his soul, or more importantly, his sanity. "Oh, my God…" she gasped in wonder. "You think we might be together by next year!" she breathed out and watched his eyes slip closed.

"So help me, God, if you tease me in any way, shape or form, you better be willing to follow through on that shooting threat!" He took a deep breath and dared to crack open one eye to sneak a glance at her to find she had stepped closer and was looking up at him in bewilderment. Her mouth hung open a little and her eyes were wide with shock and surprise and she looked more beautiful than she ever had before and his resolve snapped. "Aw, hell, it'll be worth it!" he growled and tangled his hand in her hair to pull her into his kiss.

His fingertips cradled her cranium as his free hand sought out her cheek to cup tenderly as his lips moved over hers. He waited to feel the biting pain of a bullet wound either in his gut or south of his border, but it never came. Instead, he felt the fingers of her left hand brush against his cheek once or twice in feather-light strokes before her palm flattened against his face and slid back to weave into his short tendrils, her other hand winding around to splay over his shoulder blade. A flame of hope burned within at her lack pain infliction and he removed the hand from her hair to gently stroke her other cheek.

He was pressing his lips to hers in one last little peck, planning on lifting himself off of her and resuming a safe distance before she changed her mind. His lower lip played with hers a moment longer and, as he pulled back, she followed him forward, her hands unwinding from behind his neck to curl into his lapels in tight fists, holding him even closer to her than he had been moments ago.

The seconds seemed to tick by so slowly that it seemed to go on forever and, yet the only thought he could truly process was that she was kissing him back. Not just abstaining from hurting him, like he had hoped she would, but actively participating and encouraging him, even. His blood hummed through him as he felt the wild staccato of a heartbeat against his chest, but it didn't match that ringing in his ears. It took several seconds for him to realize it as Kate's. Slowly, the fire of the kiss began to reduce and the rage subsided a little. With a few tiny nips to the center of her Cupid's bow, their lips parted, although they remained very close to one another, their breath mingling.

"Kate," he murmured, keeping his eyes shut tight, unwilling to see if her expressions revealed any form of regret. When he heard a warm hum and felt another fluttering kiss being pressed to his mouth, he risked opening his eyes a sliver and saw her smiling up at him, curling into him like a cat. "Oh, God, this just feels so _right_!" he gasped into her ear, holding her tighter to his side. "You're amazing, Kate." She smiled up at him and skimmed her fingertips across his cheek, touching his lips tenderly. As the pads brushed his upper lip, he pressed a tiny kiss to it and she chuckled. "Kate, I…" he began, but the way her eyes widened and her lips straightened scared the living daylights out of him. His mouth snapped shut and he turned away from her piercing stare.

"Rick?" she pushed, but he tried to shrug her off and ignore her plea for him to complete his thought. "Rick, please… what were you going to say?" she asked, trying to turn his face back towards his, but even with his face directly in front of hers, he still refused to swing his eyes to catch hers. She bit her lower lip and hung her head. "You regret it?" she whispered, her voice barely audible. That did the trick; he stared at her instantly as though she had just grown an extra head.

"Of course, not! Kate, what the hell? How could you think that?" he demanded, taking her by the shoulders.

"Well, if it was just because you… I mean… if all you want is…" she tried to explain, but the casualness and crudity of calling it 'just sex' stuck in her throat. She swallowed. "I mean, I get it; kissing me and having a… a fling could ruin your little set-up at the precinct if it ends badly…"

"Kate!" he barked in shock, his blue eyes wide as saucers. "How on earth could ever think I'd risk _us _for casual sex?" he damn-near bellowed, her green eyes catching his as his temper flared. "This is not just a fling; it could never be 'just' anything! Not when I love you…" he ranted, but as the words crossed his lips, he knew he was done for. His eyes slipped closed and he half-anticipated hearing her break into raucous laughter at his accidental declaration. Instead, a soft sob forced his eyes open. Tears streamed down her cheeks, her hands cupped over her mouth to stifle the sound of her crying, but it barely concealed anything. "Kate, I…"

"Rick…" she mumbled into her hands before removing them to show the widest of smiles across her face. Without warning, she threw herself into his arms, curling her arms around his neck and pressing a kiss to it. "Rick, I love you, too!" she breathed out, laughing as he swung her around, setting her back on her feet a minute later to press his lips back to hers. This time, he held nothing back as passion and pure ecstasy pumped through his veins. His fingers tangled into her hair, massaging her scalp as she wound her arms more tightly around his neck, her own hands losing themselves in his soft locks. Minutes ticked by and neither wanted to part, but lungs burned and they broke apart to take a much needed breath.

"I love you, Kate," he murmured, kissing the tip of her nose. She chortled.

"I love you, too," she replied before disentangling herself from his arms, shivering immediately at the loss of warm bodily contact. "I, also, am completely exhausted after this little emotional roller coaster," she confided, reaching past him to pick up a candle. "So, I'm going back to the bathroom to change and I'll be back out in about ten minutes." He managed to catch her hand as she walked past and pressed a kiss to the back of it, smiling.

"I'll wait for you in the living room," he told her, taking the other candle and releasing her hand to go change into pajamas himself. She closed the door behind her and made her way to the sink, placing the candle in the corner as she stared at her beaming reflection. Unable to suppress her glee, she decided to enjoy it and changed into the sweats and t-shirt in less than a minute. Finding a tube of toothpaste in the top drawer, she put a dab on her finger and cleaned her teeth as best she could, rinsing thoroughly, before folding her clothes and taking the candle to step out into the living room.

"There you are," he murmured, holding a candle, stepping closer and taking her clothes, blowing out the candle and placing it on the table. His robe was hanging open over his navy t-shirt and flannel plaid bottoms. Grinning, she teasing grabbed a fistful of shirt and tugged him close to place a soft kiss to his lips.

"Here I am," she hushed. He took her hand and led her up the stairs, pushing open the second door on the landing.

"This, um… you can use this room," he offered, stepping back and watching her shoulders sag a little. "Or…" She spun around to look up at him, her eyes hopeful as she bit her lower lip. "I mean, you could sleep with me… I mean, not _sleep__with__me_, but… you know…_ sleep _with me_," _he said, the words tumbling out of his mouth in an almost indiscernible torrent, but she smiled and wrapped her arm around his waist_. _

"Lead the way," she whispered. He walked several doors further and pushed open the door to reveal dark furniture and a couple of fake candles casting a bit of light in the otherwise pitch-black room. He smiled, set the light on the night stand and placed her clothes on the chair in the corner of the room. Looking up, he saw he peel back the covers on the bed, glacing shyly down to the sheets. He smiled and came to the other side.

"Well, crawl in," he said, sliding in on his side and watching her slip in as subtly as possible, keeping nearly a foot of space between them. He laughed and grabbed her about the waist. "Oh, come here already!" he groaned and she giggled as he pulled her bodily across the bed to cuddle her in his arms, spooning behind her. One of his arms draped over her waist while she rested her head against the other, taking the free hand in hers and stroking it gently. He hummed happily and tightened his grip a little.

"Good night, Kate," he murmured into her ear and she curled further into him like a cat.

"Good night, Rick."

At that moment, the bell on the clock downstairs chimed the arrival of a new hour and gonged twelve times. Twisting her head back to look up at him, they both smiled together and nestled back into each other.

"Merry Christmas," they mumbled, meaning it for the first time since the start of the season_._


End file.
